Impact Hired Spotlight: Derek Young of CBL Properties

Derek Young, Vice President of ESG at CBL Properties.

The Impact Hired Spotlight series highlights the stories of impact professionals across industries to demonstrate how people got to where they are. Few folks in sustainability and ESG have linear paths, and through these stories we hope to inform and inspire impact job seekers as they navigate their own career journeys. In this edition, we hear from Derek Young, Vice President of ESG at CBL Properties.

Mike Hower: Why did you pursue a career in impact?

Derek Young: I was interested in the environment and wanted a career that was connected to sustainability.

Hower: Can you talk about some of the challenges you have faced throughout your impact career getting to where you are now?

Young: Having to educate individuals who did not know much about the space. The fact that the space has been constantly evolving and changing, requiring that you are always working to remain current. Companies often cut the sustainability/CSR roles in down economies.

Hower: Can you tell us a bit about the skills you use in your current impact job? Where did you learn them?

Young: For this job, I have to have both technical skills to manage the environmental analysis, communications skills to help with reporting and disclosure and leadership skills to help with developing and sharing the strategic direction.

Hower: What do you love most about working in an impact career?

Young: Knowing my work makes a difference.

Hower: What advice would you give folks currently struggling to find their way in an impact career?

Young: Find what you are passionate about and use that to stay on-course and on track. Be willing to be flexible and know that this career path is not a straight line.

Hower: Anything else you'd like to add?

Young: Love what you do - then it's never just work.